


Boxing Day

by robron_til_the_end



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:25:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9065773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robron_til_the_end/pseuds/robron_til_the_end
Summary: A little one shot I've written, my own rambling thoughts. Hope someone enjoys.





	

Robert got up very early on Boxing day, the whole house was still asleep. Or sleeping off a hangover. But Robert had a habit of getting up and going for a walk the day after Christmas. He knew when it had started. And why. Jack. He used to go out at the crack of dawn to check the animals and the farm, after a day of indulgence, neglecting it. When Robert had been a small child, he’d gone with him, it had felt like the only two of them in the world, as the sun came up over the hills across the farm. Happy and free. Before he’d grown up a little and realised his father had been fallible. It had been a habit he’d never been able to break. Wherever he’d been in the world, whoever he‘d been with, he always woke early on the twenty sixth to see the new day dawn.

“Hey,” he whispered, leaning down over Aaron’s sleeping figure once he was dressed.

“Mm?”

“I’m off out for a bit,” Robert said, kissing him sweetly.

“Where?” Aaron slurred, tired or hung over or both.

“Just for a walk,” Robert said evasively. Aaron didn’t press. He just arched up for another kiss. Robert smiled into it, loving that at this moment in time, Aaron was undemanding of him. Robert put his jacket on and closed the bedroom door behind him, quickly leaving the pub. 

Aaron twitched when he heard Robert’s car engine, wondering where he was off to before the sun had really even risen. But Robert would tell him in his own good time. Aaron wasn’t overly worried, he trusted him. So he rolled over, pressing his face into Robert’s pillow and breathing his scent in happily as he sunk back into sleep.

* * *

 

Robert parked up in a layby by the top field of the farm and got out of the car, wishing he’d put on a proper coat rather than his leather jacket. It was cold. He had stood here on this spot countless times. It was where he came to think, to clear his head. In his mind, when he’d been away from the village he’d stood here a thousand times more. To escape from whatever life was currently throwing at him. It was good, to be here. He wasn’t sure it was doing the intended goal of clearing his head, because he was swamped with memories, not all of them good. 

Two years ago, the first Christmas back in the village, he’d felt the urge to come here, and Chrissie hadn’t understood. She’d accused him of going off to meet someone else in the early hours of the morning, which while essentially true, had given Robert a sense of righteous indignation at the time. Just because he wanted to be alone didn’t mean he was seeing another woman.

When the sun did come up a few minutes later, Robert was grateful. Even if it didn’t provide him with any warmth, it was good to see. The ground was still covered in snow, and while the roads and the village had turned into a lot of slush, the fields were pristine and white, thick with it. So beautiful. A blank canvas to start again. For one of the first times in his life, Robert realised he didn’t have anything major he wanted fix. No big life problems that he usually thought about and wished could be better. He was getting married soon. They’d be moved in and settled into their new house, Christmas while feeling happy and at home. Next year would be perfect, with their little family. Though this year had been pretty damn good too. Definitely his best Christmas yet. He had been accepted, for being nothing more than himself. It gave him a warm glow inside.

* * *

 

By the time Robert came home, Chas was making coffee, Liv and Noah arguing over the TV remote, and no sign of Aaron.

“Morning,” Robert said. “He still in bed?”

“Hiya,” Chas said easily, pouring him a cup of coffee. “And yes, not surfaced yet. Where were you so early?”

“Out,” Robert said shortly. “Thanks,” he said, adding a sugar to the coffee which he knew Aaron liked before going upstairs.

He opened their bedroom door to see Aaron finishing getting dressed, zipping his hoodie up. “Hi,” Robert said.

“You alright?” Aaron said conversationally. “Oh, cheers,” he added, taking the coffee from him.

“I was up at the farm,” Robert said before Aaron could ask. “Where dad used to go all the time.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Aaron said, reading the silence. “I’m not checking up on you.”

“I know,” Robert said. “Which is why I told you.” Aaron smiled slightly at that before finishing the coffee quickly. “Are you hung over?”

“Nah,” Aaron said with a shrug. “Dingle’s don’t do hung over, stronger stomachs than that.” Robert laughed.

“I used to go up to that field with dad,” Robert said. “It just makes me think, I guess,” Robert said softly.

“You’ve not told anyone that before, have you?” Aaron said, reading between the lines.

“No,” Robert said. “It wasn’t all bad with dad, you know. Maybe I make it sound like it is. He was… very stuck in his ways, and I do think that he didn’t much like me, but he did try to do what he thought was right.”

“Rob…”

“It’s fine,” he said. And for one of the first times, he thought it genuinely might be. “I realised something this morning. I’m happy.”

“Okay…” Aaron said slowly. “And you needed a walk to figure that out?”

“Shut up,” Robert said, though both of them ended up laughing. “Promise me something,” he continued, enjoying seeing the smile on Aaron’s face. “That when I screw up, you’ll always remember that I love you.”

“Yes,” Aaron said slowly. “Because you said when, not if.”

“I’m a nightmare Aaron,” he said. “You know that better than anyone else.”

“But you’re mine,” Aaron said, grinning.

“Do we have to go and face the day, or do you want to get back into bed?” Robert asked. Recognising that Robert was feeling vulnerable and needy, Aaron didn’t say anything, just unzipped his hoodie and took it off, falling back onto the bed happily. Robert smiled and curled up next to him, pressing gentle kisses to his neck, making Aaron sigh contentedly. He needed Aaron in a way that he’d never let himself need anyone in his life. No matter what happened in the future, he knew he wouldn’t be able to ever need someone else the way he needed Aaron. If Aaron ever left him for good, he knew it would completely break him, and it would be something he’d never get over. But for now, he'd enjoy what he had, because he knew he was lucky.


End file.
